I don’t get it.
What’s with cars being able
to think more than the people who drive them?
No doubt, many of the latest
features, such as inflatable seat belts, mobile phone integration, adaptive
headlights and back up cameras and rear sensors, are all about safety and
accident prevention.
It’s other, more
disconcerting features, such as lane departure warning systems and
self-stopping vehicles, that have me asking, “Just how dumb do you think I am?”
One automaker wonders aloud
why cars can’t do more of the worrying so motorists can do more of the driving. I wonder why motorists can’t do more of the
worrying that comes with doing all of the driving! Isn’t worrying part of
driving? Aren’t road awareness, attentiveness, anticipation and vehicle control,
responsibilities that come with driving?
Heck, cars can park
themselves now!
Still, if you can’t do
something as basic as park your 3000 to 6000 pound vehicle, should you really
be propelling it and your passengers into traffic?
Checking blind spots and
parking used to be basic skills required for passing licenses. What changed?
Drivers should be checking
their blind spots, although I suppose a case could be made for the added safety
that comes with blind spot detection systems; an extra pair of eyes and all
that. I worry, will drivers who have blind spot detection systems no longer
give their blind spots even a perfunctory glance?
It seems to me many of the
latest features only tend to make bad drivers worse. There are too many drivers
driving who shouldn’t be, and no amount of technology can foresee the
dangerously unpredictable maneuvers and countless routine oversights of an
incompetent driver.
Shouldn’t you be the one
stopping your vehicle? Shouldn’t you be making sure you stay within lane
markers? Who in tarnation is so unaware that they need to be told they’re
leaving their lane; dangerous drifters using smart phones while driving and
drunk drivers? Convenient.
Automakers are also advertising
cars that can sense imminent accidents.
Where is it all leading? How
far away is the driverless car? Is the idea to encourage drivers to think less?
Surely not.
Methinks the only logical explanation
for such smart cars is that automakers are trying to protect intelligent
drivers from dumb drivers by making cars that think for dumb drivers.
I’m not a perfect driver and
there’s no way I, or any other motorist, can think for all the other so-called
drivers out there, but some drivers actually drive! They pay attention and make responsible vehicle
control decisions based on real time, fluid second-by-second road circumstances
and situations.
That’s driving the way
driving was meant to be. Would I steer you wrong?
